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Libya Live Blog - March 20 | Al Jazeera Blogs
5:49pm

Among the headlines, you may think '"Odyssey Dawn" is the only military operation in action - but we understand each of the contributing nations has their own codename for enforcing UN Security Council resolution 1973:

Operation Odyssey Dawn - The US military operation.
Operation Ellamy - The UK military effort
Operation Mobile - The Canadian component.
Operation Harmattan- The French military operation.

If we find out why they're named those names, we'll let you know...

Harmattan is a desert wind.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sun Mar 20th, 2011 at 01:20:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Military operations are often named using a random word generator.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sun Mar 20th, 2011 at 01:28:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Harmattan is a West to South  Saharian wind... It is said that it brings meningitis and high blood pressure !!! (Mostly because of the tiny particles of dust it carries)
So I guess it wasn't chosen at random !

"What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
by margouillat (hemidactylus(dot)frenatus(at)wanadoo(dot)fr) on Sun Mar 20th, 2011 at 08:57:00 PM EST
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Hello there margouillat! Good to see you!
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Mar 21st, 2011 at 02:15:00 AM EST
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Merci... :-) All those fours from nice people, I'm flabbergasted !!!

"What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
by margouillat (hemidactylus(dot)frenatus(at)wanadoo(dot)fr) on Mon Mar 21st, 2011 at 03:31:47 AM EST
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As you see, you've been missed!
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Mar 21st, 2011 at 06:55:48 AM EST
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Ellarmy might be a sort of reference to the Battle of El Alamein, during the Second World War.  The British Eighth Army and the German Afrika Korps chased each other through Libya for a while during that war.
by Gary J on Mon Mar 21st, 2011 at 12:38:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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